What you need to know about nabbed suspected kidnapper of toddlers

Suspected kidnapper, Ruth Okoronkwo, who was arrested by the Army’s 20 Model Battalion at Serti in Gashaka Local Government Area of Taraba State and handed over to the police for further investigation, is a specialist in the trade, it was learnt.

Ruth, 37, was apprehended at a checkpoint at Sabon Gida, along Jalingo-Wukari Road. She was nabbed among a three-man gang who allegedly abducted two toddlers aged one and two.

One of the children hails from Adamawa State, while the other is from Iware in Taraba State, the Army said.
The parade of the suspected kidnappers came after Governor Darius Ishaku last month signed into law, an anti-kidnapping Act prescribing death penalty for offenders.
When Lt. Col. Musa Adamu paraded the three suspects at the weekend, before handing them to the Police Headquarters in Jalingo, Ruth confessed the crime, but claimed she was a novice in the act.
She said she has been recruited to kidnap infants for a fee.
“This is my first time of doing something like this. I was promised N50,000 if I could assist kidnap some children. I will not do it again if I am freed,” she said.

The Nation investigation, however, reveals that Ruth was once arrested and jailed at the Makurdi Prisons and it was not long that she was released on bail.
The suspect also told the Army she was a “businesswoman from Abia State,” but it was learnt that she is a resident of Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
“Ruth is Igbo, but was born and brought up at Iorkyaa-Ako Street in Makurdi.
“She was slim while growing up until now that she is making money from kidnapping of children that she has become plumped,” our source who is her neighbour in Makurdi told The Nation.
It was learnt that the Lexus Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with Lagos registration number in which she was intercepted by the Army, was acquired from the proceeds made from abduction of infants.
Ruth was nabbed with a man she claimed was her brother and one other Emmanuel Kelechi she identified as her driver. But The Nation gathered the two were all her accomplices.